How to reduce label printing costs

In recent years, driven by related industries such as daily chemicals, pharmaceuticals and logistics, China's label printing industry has made considerable progress and has initially formed a certain industrial scale. With the increasingly fierce market competition, label manufacturers are also facing a severe test. How to improve their own strength and maintain their dominant position in the market competition is a problem that each label manufacturer has to consider. Effectively reducing the cost of label printing becomes the first problem the label manufacturer must solve. In this regard, we interviewed Mr. Chen Wei of Tianjin Linde Industrial Co., Ltd., Mr. Liu Yongli of Zhanjiang Yongjin Adhesive Label Printing Factory, and Mr. Zhang Longfei of Shanghai Jiahuan Packaging Materials Co., Ltd., hoping that their valuable opinions and suggestions can help you Helped. We also thank you for your support here.

Prepress design is the key

Prepress design is the primary link of label printing, and it is also the first link to reduce the cost of label printing. Since prepress design affects all subsequent process steps, it determines its key position in label printing.

At present, most label manufacturers still have certain losses in the prepress design process, especially for the labels of new varieties. Due to lack of experience, they often cause high costs.

Under normal circumstances, in the process of designing plates, the prepress designer must first confirm the quantity and accuracy requirements of the job, and determine the specific model to be used, because the production efficiency and precision of different models are not the same. Only a reasonable choice can complete the task with the lowest cost. This requires the prepress designer to understand the performance and accuracy of the various machines and equipment in the factory, and to be familiar with the process of each process. Secondly, according to the characteristics of the selected printing method, it is determined whether to use three primary colors or spot color printing, design the number of color sets, and formulate the color separation process of the printing plate for reference when making the plate. Finally make imposition design, then we must make reasonable use of the layout, to avoid causing film waste.

It is worth noting that in the design of plate-making, scattered print jobs should be combined together as much as possible for plate making and printing. In this way, both the plate making and the printing process can save some time and costs.

To truly reduce the overall cost of label printing in designing the plate, designers are familiar with the process of label printing, and at the same time designing or modifying a job, they must pay attention to accumulating experience and avoid making the same mistakes. In addition, designers should participate in business activities as much as possible, and strive to meet the needs of customers with the lowest cost.

Avoid oversizing

According to reports, when label manufacturers choose materials, there are mainly two kinds of waste.
1. Because we do not understand the customer's requirements for print performance and other aspects, high-grade materials are used in production. However, as long as medium and low-grade materials are used, we can meet the requirements of customers.
2. Because the customer does not understand the performance of the material, blindly impose some rigid requirements on the label manufacturer (such as in accordance with foreign material number, etc.), resulting in unnecessary increase in costs.
For the first case, business personnel should strengthen communication with customers to understand the customer's requirements for product performance and other aspects, and allow experienced technical personnel to check to avoid oversizing.

For the second case, printing manufacturers should make more efforts in coordinating with customers, and persuade customers through appropriate methods, which may encounter a lot of resistance, but it is very important to reduce costs.

In addition, there are no special requirements, some label printing manufacturers use "joint joint venture materials" or through ISO certified materials. Their main reason for doing so is to take into account the better performance of these materials, to meet the requirements of label printing, easier to reach agreement with the customer, and it is simple and convenient to choose. But to better achieve the purpose of reducing costs, when printing different grades of labels, you can use different grades of ink, paper, stickers and other materials, in order to effectively control the waste of the label printing process.

Reasonable choice of printing

Faced with distinctive printing methods, in order to reduce equipment debugging time, improve production efficiency, and to a certain extent improve the quality of products to meet customer needs, label printing manufacturers often based on different grades and different batches of live jobs, the product After sorting, select different printing methods for printing.

At present, China's label printing is mainly based on embossing, offset printing and screen printing, while developed countries such as Europe and the United States mainly adopt flexographic printing methods. With the continuous improvement of the domestic plate-making level and the continuous reduction of prices, the overall cost of flexographic printing will be greatly reduced. Its low input and high output will attract more and more label manufacturers. In the long run, flexographic printing will be the first choice for packaging printing, especially for label printing.

At present, in the field of label printing, combination printing has become more and more popular. One of the reasons is that it can complete printing and post-processing at a time, which not only improves the production efficiency, but also significantly reduces the cost of label printing.

In addition, when the printing method is selected, if the machine is properly adjusted, it can also reduce material waste and machine wear. For example, when printing high-end labels, first use common, cheaper special light paper to debug the machine, and then change to a better material for printing; start the machine at medium speed when debugging the machine, and then adjust the machine speed; At the same time the pressure of the version of the school color, after the completion of these two steps and then school color.

Post-press die cutting attention to detail

When offline die-cutting is used, die-cutting inaccuracies often occur, and even a large number of labels may be scrapped, and debugging must also be stopped. If the inspector masters the bad die-cutting standards, it will also increase the cost of printing.

In addition, in the printing of some adhesive labels (especially some small-area labels), the labels often appear stuck in the process of die cutting and waste disposal, which is also one of the main reasons for the waste of printed materials. Suggestions can be taken as follows.

1. When designing a label, the area of ​​the label can be appropriately increased, and the shape of the label should not be too complicated and a reasonable arrangement should be used.
2. Properly reduce the temperature of the adhesive material storage workshop and the printing shop, and prevent the viscosity of the adhesive on the self-adhesive sheet material from decreasing.
3. Replace die-cutting blades that use a long time and have a dull blade, or stick a sponge piece between the die-cut plate and the blade, and you can also remake the die-cut plate.
4. Through the method of die-cutting the bottom plate, the pressure of the die plate is adjusted so that the pressure of the die plate is even and the depth of die-cut creasing is consistent.
5. Improve the speed of die-cutting.

Scientific management strictly checks

In order to reduce the cost of label printing, in addition to making more efforts in various processes, it should also actively implement standardized, digital management. While introducing new equipment, new processes, and new technologies, domestic label printing companies should establish new management concepts, establish new management systems, and comprehensively improve the quality of label production and reduce costs with scientific and standardized management. In this respect, Tianjin Linke Industrial Co., Ltd. provided us with a good example. Figure 1 shows the company's current management model. According to the person in charge, this management model has played a significant role in reducing production costs, especially for the management of new products.

In short, a scientific management model can organically combine the various process steps of label production to achieve overall control of the production process.

Conclusion

Reducing the cost of printing labels is a global task, and the key is to make reasonable plans in the prepress design stage, taking into account the process characteristics of each process, and to control the label printing as a whole through scientific management so as to ensure At the same time reduce the quality of waste.

In the entire production process, the coordination between label printing manufacturers and customers has also been through them, affecting every aspect of label printing. For customers who make clear requirements, label printing manufacturers should coordinate the relationship between production and customer requirements as far as possible according to the actual situation of the factory, and minimize the cost of label printing.

Reprinted from: Ke Yin Media - "Printing Technology - Packaging and Printing"